The Big Melt

On Sunday September 24th... Hailey's 15th Birthday... I headed back out to Nordegg.  I needed to check and make sure that everything was OK, and shut things down for the season.  Margarit came out later in the day with our second truck.  I loaded up our ATV onto a flat deck trailer and Margarit drove it back home.  I hooked up to our RV trailer and pulled it out for the season.  There was still quite a bit of snow, but it had melted down a lot from what had been there a couple of days ago.  Before Margarit showed up I spent a couple of hours shovelling all the snow out of my house....  that sounds really weird, but it was what really happened.  The snow arrived before the roof sheeting had been put on my cottage.  So, there had been about 14 to 16 inches of wet snow inside the place.  In the meantime, on Friday the 22nd, the framing crew had come back and finished up the trusses and sheeted the roof.  But, in the meantime that wet snow had melted down to about six inches of the stuff.  Expecting those exact conditions I had brought along a snow shovel.  It took me a couple of hours to shovel all the snow off of and out of the upper level, and then to continue more of the same on the lower level.  Even after I had finished as best as I could, there was still a lot of water in the house, and it sounded like it was raining inside.  Fortunately the temperature popped up to about +13C and the forecast is calling for much the same conditions all week.  Sure is a major switch from the conditions last week.  Things should dry off nicely in the coming days.  But in the meantime, the foundation of our garage has become a wading pool and the rest of the construction site a big mud hole.  We packed up and hit the road late in the afternoon.  We made a brief stop in Nordegg to dump the holding tanks of the trailer and then headed for home.  We hit the road by around 6:00 and made it back to the city by 9:00.  But, we had to park the trailer in the yard at the shop, and spot the flat deck with the ATV in the shop.  By the time we got back home to the girls it was 9:30 going on 10:00.  Hailey was less than impressed that we had missed her birthday.  We did share some birthday cake with her before heading to bed and made a promise that we would take her out to dinner the next day.

During the afternoon I met with our builder Scott of Shunda Creek Contracting.  It is unfortunate that the timing of this storm set back our schedule the way that it did, but no one is to blame.  Mother nature every so often reminds us of who is really in control.  With mild weather in the forecast the next week or so, hopefully Scott and his framing crew can get things wrapped up.  In a month or so, when the windows are ready, the plan is to close the building in and get the metal roofing on.  After that they can work on the siding over the winter, if conditions allow.  In the mean time I will need to get my friend Rob back at some point so that we can get back at the electrical rough in work.  The mechanical contractor also needs to get out here at some point so that we can rough in the plumbing and heating stuff.  Over the spring I need to deal with electrical and mechanical inspections, followed by insulation and vapor barrier.  I am planning to bring in a drywall crew in the late spring to board and tape all the interior walls.  Then the girls and I can set to work painting everything.  This will be followed by installation of wood panelling to the vaulted ceiling.  After that we can work on flooring, followed by cabinets and fixtures.  I am expecting that by this time next year the building will be habitable, though not completely finished.  Fingers crossed...